The aforesaid prior application, Ser. No. 2718 provides an automatic machine for the production of ice cubes, independent of any connection with the water system, made especially for household use, offices or small establishments. The improved water spraying mechanism and arrangement for ensuring the detachment of the cubes, claimed in this application are disclosed herein in connection with the machine of the prior application but can as well be used in other type of ice cube machines.
Many types of automatic ice cube machines are known, made to be installed in public places, such as bars, restaurants, hotels and such, capable of a continuous ice cube production: all these machines require a continuous in and outflow of water, their operation depending on a continuous cycle of an influx and discharge flow of water to a refrigerator; the above indicates therefore, the necessity of a connection with the general water system, and therefore the installation of a permanent kind, with resulting sensitive problems for home use, small establishments, offices, caused by the machine themselves.
Consequently, the aim of the invention of the prior application is to furnish an ice cube machine that is completely free and independent of any water connection and that would be inexpensive, so that it could be used as a household appliance, in offices and small establishments.
The automatic machine for making ice cubes, according to the invention of the prior application, has attained these aims because it furnishes a water tank having one compartment able to contain a larger quantity of water than that necessary for one cycle of ice cube production, and a smaller compartment able to contain only the amount of water needed for and during one freezing cycle, connected to the freezing units through means that can produce a continuous cycle of water between the smaller compartment itself and freezing units.
To be more specific, the machine invented is of the kind in which the freezing units are constituted of many small inverted cups connected to an evaporator and overhanging devices able to spray the water to be frozen into said small cups; the above-mentioned water tank is therefore connected to the spraying parts by means of a small duct connected to a pump immersed in the water tank itself, while a small discharge container collects the unfrozen water which is conveyed through a discharge duct, back to the smaller water compartment.
Another characteristic of the invention of the prior application is that, in order to accelerate the cycle of production, the water tank is built in two compartments connected with each other at the bottom by a small opening, one of the parts having a capacity substantially equal to the quantity of water necessary for one or more cycles of production. The emission pump and the small discharge duct are immersed in this compartment, within which, during each cycle of production, a progressive cooling of the water takes place.
The herein claimed spraying devices are furthermore built in such a way as to avoid the clogging of the spray tips through calcium deposits, possible particularly because there is no continous renewal of water, as there is in conventional machines and are characterized as having at least two semi-spherical enclosures to which water is supplied by a pump and is therein caused to circulate in a circular fashion to produce the desired water spray. Special devices are furthermore used to facilitate the easy access to various components for maintenance and cleaning.
These and further characteristics of the invention emerge from the following description, relating to preferred ways of illustrating the discovery--to give examples rather than set limits--in the figures of the drawings.